LANSING, March 14.  The Michigan Public Service Commission today
approved modifications to the Retail Open Access bidding programs for The
Detroit Edison Company and Consumers Energy Company.  The Commission
concluded that, having had an opportunity to observe the first three rounds of
bidding,  modifications to the bidding program would facilitate the bidding process
and continue Michigan's move to a more competitive environment for electric
service.      

     Modifications to the bidding programs include:

          The holder of a winning bid may not forfeit a higher priced bid 
          in order to activate a lower priced bid.  If the holder of a 
          winning bid  forfeits its rights to any capacity under that bid, 
          then all of its losing bids shall be disqualified; 

          The waiver of the one-half cent per kilowatt hour minimum bid
          requirement should continue for the March 20 and November 20, 
          2000 rounds of bidding;

          The bid qualification stage is now the appropriate point to screen 
          out non-qualifying utilities and affiliates for reciprocity 
          requirements.  Reciprocity requirements prohibit utilities and 
          their affiliates from direct participation in the open access 
          program if the utility does not offer comparable open access in 
          its service territory.  In a concurring opinion,  Commissioner
          Nelson indicated his reservations about reciprocity requirements. 
     
     Today's order follows an MPSC staff report to the Commission on the first
bid cycle and comments on the report from several interested parties.  The
Commission determined that some parties submitted comments about issues that
were outside the scope of this proceeding.  The Commission indicated that it was
open to consideration of any approaches that promise to benefit competition and
reduce costs for all participants, and encourages utilities, interested parties and
MPSC staff to continue to work towards a consensus on such issues.

     Detroit Edison, headquartered in Detroit,  provide electric service to more
than 2 million  customers.  Consumers Energy, headquartered in Jackson, provides
electric service to more than 1.6 million customers.

     The MPSC is an agency within the Department of Consumer and Industry
Services.

Case No. U-11290
March 14, 2000
(MPSC modified Retail Open Access bidding programs for Consumers Energy and
Detroit Edison)